Ammon News - The government is pushing on at a "steady and real" pace, in accordance with His Majesty King Abdullah II's directives and visions to enter the state's 2nd centennial with plans aimed to modernize Jordan's political system, develop the public sector, carry out necessary economic reforms and address major challenges, primarily poverty and unemployment, Prime Minister, Dr. Bishr Khasawneh, said Sunday.
Speaking at a press conference held Sunday, at the Prime Ministry, in the presence of a number of ministers, the PM announced new government measures to promote customs reforms and launch 5G mobile infrastructure services in the telecom sector, in addition to enhancing employment opportunities.
The PM also said the first mechanisms of political modernization in the state's 2nd centennial was His Majesty King Abdullah II's decision to form the Royal Committee to Modernize the Political System (RCMPS).
In addition, the PM affirmed that the government adhered to the Royal "guarantee" by sending the two bills related to political parties and elections and the related constitutional amendments to the Lower House of Representatives, adding that the government added some constitutional amendments before sending the package to the Lower House.
The PM said the constitutional amendments, which were endorsed by the Lower House during the past week, aim to "achieve a leap in the Kingdom's political modernization process," leading to a three-phase parliament with partisan majorities.
After three electoral rounds, it is expected that political parties will have 65 seats in the Lower House, within an "empowering" framework for women and youth, according to the texts of the two draft laws related to political parties and elections, which will be debated by the Parliament, according to the legislative and constitutional track, the PM added.
The recently-approved constitutional amendments reduced the age of candidacy to 25 years, which reflects belief in the young generation to handle parliamentary work and also aims to reach partisan governments, "to enable the partisan majority to form governments within a public system that maintains the rights of the political majority," according to Khasawneh.
In a related context, he referred to the diverse economic and administrative reforms, adding that public sector's development constitutes a "necessary and essential" leverage for modernization of political life and economic reforms.
The government, he said, has recently formed a Public Sector Modernization Committee, comprised of group of ministers and a number of institutional work experts, meets on a regular basis at the Prime Ministry, and seeks to to review the necessary legislation that enables and modernizes the public sector.
Khasawneh said the new customs measures are designed to create a system whereby there would be a centralised database of the Jordan Customs Department. This will make the customs system more efficient and spur investments.
The customs reforms will cut the time and cost of which products can be approved and admitted in, as a colour scheme that represents three tracks will be put in place.
The reforms will allow for the registration of products being shipped before arriving in the country, bringing down the amount of time for the registration of products from nine days to only three.
The premier said the customs reforms go in tandem with the application of the new electricity tariff that will be effective as of April 1, explaining that "more than 90 percent" of households will not be affected.
He added the new tariff is designed to slash the electricity bills on businesses that mainly work in agriculture, trade, industry, tourism and the health sector.
He said the government intends to launch a platform through which Jordanians could apply for assistance on their electricity bill, vowing full government commitment.
Also, he revealed that telecommunication companies are scheduled to start working on an infrastructure for the G5 technology, highlighting the technology will bring in more investments and have a positive impact on education, health, banking, agriculture, media, transport and entertainment.
Khasawneh talked about his government's national employment plan, for which JD80 million had been allocated from the 2022 public budget. It is expected to create 60,000 job opportunities.
The government would pay the amount of JD150 every month for six months for workers who sign a year contract with the private sector.
The government has also allocated JD24 million for small- and medium-sized projects that are expected to create over 2,000 job opportunities.
On COVID-19, the government has worked on increasing the capacity by 300 percent by setting up four field hospitals in major cities. It hired 2,500 new medical doctors and staff and signed contracts to ship over around 17.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.
The government has introduced a range of measures to salvage the tourism sector that had been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, as more than 2.35 million tourists visited in 2021, far exceeding the expectations.
On the strategic stockpile, the premier said Jordan's stockpile is "sufficient," as wheat is forecast to last 16 months, while barely for 12 months.
He also highlighted that his government is keen on regulating market prices.
The 2022 public budget, Khasawneh noted, saw a considerable increase of more than 43 percent to fund more projects.
He expected the national debt would come down from 91.6 percent of GDP in 2021 to 90.9 percent in 2021 due to the reforms in the customs system.
He said that Jordan's status on "Fitch Ratings," a credit rating agency, has changed from "negative" to "stable."
He also said that his government's measures to check tax evasion has paid off, adding that the international support for Jordan's response plan to the Syrian refugee crisis has dwindled, as international support comprised a meager 22.8 percent of the plan's needs in 2021.
He added that the most prominent challenges facing Jordan are unemployment that leads to poverty. Khasawneh emphasised that the only way to tackle the issue is to empower the private sector.
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